Planned Giving
Planned Giving
We invite you to consider making a planned gift to Spirit Catholic Community. Your generosity will help sustain our shared commitment to inclusive liturgy, social justice, and collaborative ministry. By including Spirit in your estate plans, you ensure that our vibrant community can continue to be a welcoming spiritual home and a force for good in the wider world. Thank you for helping us carry this vision forward.
You may donate appreciated stock to Spirit of St. Stephen's. Contact us at Giving@SpiritCatholicCommunity.org for details.
If you would like to remember Spirit of St. Stephen's in your will, please follow these instructions.
We are Spirit Catholic Community, an independent, intentional Eucharistic community in the Nokomis neighborhood of Minneapolis. Rooted in Christ’s teachings, we are a vibrant group of approximately 300 people, committed to shared leadership, active participation, and service. Every aspect of our church life—liturgy planning, music, homilies, education, hospitality, social justice, and even the practical work of running the church—is shaped collaboratively by our members under the direction of an elected Council.
Our community traces its spiritual and communal roots to St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, an urban parish on the southern edge of downtown Minneapolis. In the 1960s, inspired by the transformative vision of the Second Vatican Council, parishioners at St. Stephen’s embraced a renewed understanding of the Church—especially in affirming the priesthood of the laity. They sought a more participatory Eucharist and a church deeply engaged with the world around it.
This vision bore fruit in a range of bold ministries: an inner-city school, housing for women with developmental disabilities, a recovery residence for Native American women, and the creation of St. Stephen’s Human Services, a non-profit dedicated to feeding, housing, clothing, and employing those in need. The parish also became known as a welcoming spiritual home for LGBTQIA+ individuals, not only offering acceptance but affirming their presence and gifts in the life of the church.
By 2008, however, new liturgical mandates from the Archdiocese required a more hierarchical model of worship and governance. Rather than relinquish four decades of experience grounded in Vatican II’s call for co-responsibility and inclusion, the community chose a new path forward—continuing as Spirit of St. Stephen’s Catholic Community, or simply “Spirit.”
In 2018, Spirit found a new home in the Nokomis neighborhood as part of New Branches, a unique partnership with Lake Nokomis Lutheran and Living Table United Church of Christ. Together, the three churches share worship space and collaborate on community initiatives, honoring their distinct traditions while working side by side for justice, compassion, and connection.